Thursday, September 20, 2007

You Say Mosque. I Say Masjid.

Do you know that the tallest religious building in the world is a mosque? Really? A masjid?

Subhanallah!

Where do you think it is?

I'll show you a picture of it.

This is the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morroco. It is the tallest religious building in the world. It stands at 575 feet.It was built for $750 million USD. It can hold 20,000 worshippers. It took 35,000 workers a total of 50 million man-hours to complete.That is impressive.Here are other related sites to visit:This site has more information about King Hassan II Mosque. Click on his Flikr photos to see great shots of Morroco.This site has tons of photos of mosques/masjids from all over the world.Oh, and the reason I prefer the term masjid? I use the Arabic “masjid” and not the Spanish word “mosque.” The latter term comes from King Ferdinand during the Spanish Inquisition, when he boasted that he would swat out every Muslim place of worship like a fly, or “mosque.”This site talks about the minaret as a symbol of faith and power.Why talk about this? Why think about this? For me, it is a confirmation that small people can do great things for God. The masjid's architecture amazes me and makes me feel the great possibilities in life are within my reach. Architecture starts as a dream in someone's mind. It is the unseen. Then, it is put on paper as a drafting sketch. That moment; from dream to drawing is such a huge leap of faith. It is pulling out from inside you what you hold dear and then sharing it with the world. Aren't we all scared of that moment? Of taking a dream and making it real?When we see the great buildings in Islam, we can remember that IF we are glorifying God, then nothing is impossible. That helps me immensely today and I hope that helps all of you as well.Ramadan Kareem.

4 comments:

I know what you mean about man giving glory to God through magnificent buildings in His honor.

I think that Islams contribution to Architecture, art and literature, and science for that matter, are among the worlds best kept secrets.

Thank God the rest of the world hasn't discovered (and commercialized) such gems as Khiva, Bukhara, Samarqand and Tashkent which are breathtakingly beautiful and the eqqual of (exceed even) the ancient wonders of Egypt or the majesty of Rome.

You (we?) have such a rich heritage of praise to our God. Subhanallah!

I know a sister who has a picture standing in front of this masjid. It's really nice and you don't even get the size of it until you see her standing in front of it.

Personally, I think it's an extravagant waste of money. 750 million USD for a building. I know it is a place of worship, but yes it is still a building. Such a huge amount when people are living on less than $200/month in north african countries and they wait until they are almost 40 to get married because they cannot afford a apartment. Imagine how many people would have food/clothing/place to live if they would have spent a little less money on a masjid and more money on the countries people. That, to me, would be the real way to glorify god. Oh, and did you know that in this masjid(from what i hear) and the blue mosque in istanbul that you have to pay to make wuduu or use the bathroom. OUTRAGEOUS!

Did you know that the king of morocco is the 5th wealthiest monarch in the world?

Compare this masjid and other huge ones like it(not harem in mecca because that needs to be so big to hold all the hajis each year)to those in the time of our prophet. They were merely dirt floors and clay walls with carpets laid out.

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